Blacks Law Dict. 1st ed

LEVABI FACIAS

LETTEBS OP SLAINS

706

countersigned by a secretary of state, author izing the imprisonment of a person. It is said that they were devised by Pere Joseph, under the administration of Richelieu. They were at first made use of occasionally as a means of delaying the course of justice; but during the reign of Louis XIV. they were obtained by any person of suflBcient influence with the king or his ministers. Under them, persons were imprisoned for life or for a long period on the most frivolous pretexts, for the gratification of private pique or revenge, and without any reason being assigned for such punishment. They were also granted by the king for the purpose of shielding his favor ites or their friends from the consequences of their crimes; and thus were as pernicious in their operation as the protection afforded by the church to criminals in a former age. Abolished during the Bevolution of 1789. Wharton. LEUCA. In old French law. A league, consisting of fifteen hundred paces. Spelman. In old English law. A league or mile of a thousand paces. Domesday; Spelman. A privileged space around a monastery of a league or mile in circuit. Spelman. LEVANDJE NAVIS CAUSA. Lat. For the sake of lightening the ship; denotes a purpose of throwing overboard goods, which renders them subjects of general av erage. LEVANT ET COUCHANT. L. Fr. Bising up and lying down. A term applied to trespassing cattle which have remained long enough upon land to have lain down to rest and risen up to feed; generally the space of a night and a day, or, at least, one night. LEVANTES ET CUBANTES. Bising up and lying down. A term applied to cat tle. 3 Bl. Comm. 9. LEVARI FACIAS. Lat. In English practice. A writ of execution directing the sheriff to cause to be made of the lands and chattels of the judgment debtor the sum re covered by the judgment. Also a writ to the bishop of the diocese, commanding him to enter into the benefice of a judgment debtor, and take and sequester the same into his possession, and hold the same until he shall have levied the amount of the judgment out of the rents, tithes, and profits thereof. In American law. A writ used to sell lands mortgaged, after a judgment has been

nor can travel himself upon the high seas, or tend his goods and merchandise from one place to another, without danger of being seized, unless he has letters of safe conduct, which, by divers old statutes, must be granted under the great seal, and enrolled in chan cery, or else are of no effect; the sovereign being the best judge of such emergencies as may deserve exemption from the general law of arms. But passports or licenses from the ambassadors abroad are now more usually ob tained, and are allowed to be of equal valid ity. Wharton. LETTERS OP SLAINS, or SLANES. Letters subscribed by the relatives of a per son who had been slain, declaring that they had received an assythment, and concurring in an application to the crown for a pardon to the offender. These or other evidences of their concurrence were necessary to found the application. Bell. LETTERS PATENT. Open letters, as distinguished from letters close. An instru ment proceeding from the government, and conveying a right, authority, or grant to an individual, as a patent for a tract of land, or for the exclusive right to make and sell a new invention. Familiarly termed a "patent." LETTERS ROGATORY. A formal communication in writing, sent by a court in which an action is pending to a court or judge of a foreign country, requesting that the testimony of a witness resident within the jurisdiction of the latter court may be there formally taken under its direction and transmitted to the first court for use in the pending action. This process was also in use, at an early period, between the several states of the Union. The request rests en tirely upon the comity of courts towards each other. LETTERS TESTAMENTARY. The formal instrument of authority and appoint ment given to an executor by the proper court, empowering him to enter upon the discharge of his office as executor. It corre sponds to letters of administration granted to an administrator. LETTING OUT. The act of awarding a contract; e. g., a construction contract, or contract for carrying the mails. LETTRE. In French law. A letter. It is used, like our English "letter," for a form al instrument giving authority. LETTRES DE CACHET. Letters is med and signed by the kings of France, and

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